In a trembling voice: Me-Made-May '13

I, Siga of juicyknits.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear me-made items at least ten times a month in May 2013.

OK, this is such a big step for me. I'm a knitter. I do love sewing, but I'm a novice. I've only made three skirts and two dresses so far. In terms of wearing me-made items 10 times during May, it'll be a challenge. Let's hope we do have some chilly days so I can pull out my knits. All in all, don't expect very many different outfits from me on those days. High chances are, you'll see one and the same skirt featured all over the place.

FO: Cousin hats

I tested this hat for Julie. It was a very fast knit. I knit the 12-18 month size in an evening. I messed up the decreases on the first hat and I guessed confused Julie so that she'll need some more time to bring out the pattern to the rest of you.

The large size, with the knitted i-cords, needs just a bit over 100 yards of DK weight. This is a perfect use of your leftovers. It was the first time for me knitting a bonnet. It amazes me how a flat knit is shaped via decreases and goes so cutely over a little one's head. A hat without a closure does not work these days. At. All. I guess a ribbon would fit nicely here as well, but since I did not have a suitable one at hand, I just knit an i-cord.

This is a suitable last-minute gift.

wooly thoughts

Knitting to me is first about making things with my own hands. It's about putting my love, thoughts, sometimes frustration into each stitch. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about the recipient of my knit during the process of making. You could take all the flashy gadgets (well, maybe not my swift and yarn winder, pls) and novelty yarns from me, I were happy to have some wooly wool and knit exclusively it without missing any other yarns. There's something homely about this scratchy wool that still smells like sheep. It makes me feel connected with my history. I think about my great-grandmothers that surely knit with wool like it. Were you to click onto my Ravelry page, you'd find very few things knit from wooly-wool, though. I've been dazzled by colours of novelty yarns.

OK, can anybody convince me of advantages having one's stash updated on Ravelry? I just do not see the point so far, Ysolda did not convince me.

FOs: As good as it gets

Other knitters have complained about the difficulties getting proper knit shots. My chances of getting my knits modeled and photographed have apparently reached null. I've finished this sweater in October and have been wearing it A LOT. It's that perfect combination of yarn and a pattern. I like everything about it - the colour, the fit, the feel. And I still feel that my photos are so very much undeserving this knit.

My camera doesn't have a remote and that's what happens if you try putting a red colour into a picture without focusing it properly beforehand.

All the specs about the pattern, yarn and the needles - on Ravelry here.

And here's another knit that isn't about to get any decent shots - my second take on Featherweight cardigan. I had made a wrong yarn choice for the first version, but I did like the cardigan. This time, all borders are feather-and-fan patterned. Yarn and the needles infos are here. The pattern is surely going to be used again. Maybe a moss-stitch border next?

Happy Easter!

still knitting

I've been relying on my mobile google reader to get updated with all your posts and was wondering why suddenly everybody started mentioning Bloglovin' or other sites as an alternative to google reader. After logging into the reader from a computer, I was updated as well about the upcoming changes. Being a busy mom of almost a toddler, I had no time to research where I should take all my reads to, so I just googled the first alternative and feedly it is for me. The best plus that I can name at this point is that I did not need to set up a new account. 

Aside note: With all the things that need new aliases and passwords these days, is there somebody out there who can still live without a password management site? I do not know what I'd do without my KeePassX.

Back to feedly. It is so fancy and so magazine-like. I took this opportunity to finally sort the blogs that I was following. By the way, google blog management hasn't been working for at least a year. I've been wanting to ditch some dyi blogs of the sort "how to make your own pom-pom hat?", "go buy a hat, a pom-pom and attach that pom-pom to your hat". Finally I could do that. It feels like I've been doing some spring cleaning. Oh, by the way, all of the starred blog posts are automatically transported as well, which was such a relief to see that.

Whilst I was spring cleaning my reads, I decided to take a look at my Ravelry queue that had reached 110 items. I managed to only go down to 96. Most of the items are accessories anyway, I use the queue as a collection of possible gift knits.

One of those accessories queued long time ago (December 2010 to be precise, Ravelry is specific like that) was Opus Spicatum hat. I used some leftovers to knit a beanie version of it.

It is a bit snug on me and I considered shortly reknitting it. First, I want to try blocking to see if that helps. If not, it'll go into a gift pile, just like Roobeedoo does it. It is very satisfying to finish such a quick knit in these last days of winter and still get some wear out of it. And next winter it is still going to be as good as new.

The first knit this year with spring on my mind was yet another version of a Baktus scarf.

It's a pink, girly version in Wollmeise Pure "Babe" colourway. This is also a big version of the scarf, compared to her first one.

There are two spring cardis for me on the needles right now (no photo evidence). And I still very very much like to knit a Sarah Lund sweater from the first series, although I know there's no chance to get it finished for this winter. Maybe I will resist untill fall with that endeavour. Especially since I know that series three will feature a sweater that I will also want to knit myself. Birgitte, you've done an awesome job with your version. I'm totally in love.

wordless WIP Wednesday

FO: A sock yarn sweater

It is official: I have no sock yarn. Well, I do have fingering weight yarn, but it is all too pretty for socks. And mostly too daring for anything else. Not for baby sweaters, though.

This pattern is a keeper. It's the fourth time that I've used it. And I think I'm about to cast on for another one. I got a skein of Lorna's Laces that would be a shame to knit socks with. One can never go wrong stocking up baby knits.

the knits I wore today

My first Lanesplitter, toast handwarmers, a selbu modern hat and a hawthorne shawl I've yet to tell you about.

FO: Small beginnings

Inspiration for this project was this, this (non Ravelry link here). And this (non Rav link here) is also great, although I did not see it until after I finished my cardi.

The project came together gradually. When I bought the yarn, I only knew that I want to knit a fairisle cardi, I was not sure about the pattern nor the motifs. On the other hand, birds must have been on my mind already as I bought the bird buttons alongside the wool.

There are thujas growing in my mom's yard. And in this cold winter many birds live in them as my mom puts birdseed out for them. Many a morning we were having breakfast simultaneously. Birds and us. So I cast on and knit a row of birds first. When I was looking for a vine pattern, I realized that this is the same as this. And since I have the wristwarmer pattern, that was the way to proceed.

Were I to knit it all over again, I'd change a couple of things, but as this was supposed to be the beginning, it is dear to me as it is.